Originally posted on sciy.org by Ron Anastasia on Wed 27 Feb 2008 02:11 AM PST
https://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/smolin_susskind04/smolin_susskind.html
SMOLIN VS. SUSSKIND: THE ANTHROPIC PRINCIPLE |
Introduction
Recently, I received a copy of an email sent by Leonard Susskind to a group of physicists which included an attached file entitled "Answer to Smolin". This was the opening salvo of an intense email exchange between Susskind and Smolin concerning Smolin's argument that "the Anthropic Principle (AP) cannot yield any falsifiable predictions, and therefore cannot be a part of science".
After reading several postings by each of the physicists, I asked each if (a) they would consider posting the comments on Edge, and (b) if they would write a new, and final "letter".
Both agreed, but only after a negotiation: (1) No more than 1 letter each; (2) Neither sees the other's letter in advance; (3) No changes after the fact. A physics shoot-out.
While this is a conversation written by physicists for physicists, it should nonetheless be of interest for Edge readers as it's in the context of previous Edge features with the authors, it's instructive as to how science is done, and it's a debate that clarifies, not detracts. And finally it's a good example of what Edge is all about, where contributors share the boundaries of their knowledge and experience with each other and respond to challenges, comments, criticisms, and insights. The constant shifting of metaphors, the intensity with which we advance our ideas to each other — this is what intellectuals do. Edge draws attention to the larger context of intellectual life.
Below are the original email pieces, followed by the final letters presented side-by-side.
LEE SMOLIN,
a theoretical physicist, is concerned with
quantum gravity, "the name we give to the theory that unifies
all the physics now under construction." More specifically,
he is a co-inventor of an approach called loop quantum gravity. In
2001, he became a founding member and research physicist of the Perimeter
Institute for Theoretical Physics, in Waterloo, Canada. He is the
author of The Life of The Cosmos and Three Roads to Quantum
Gravity. (See Edge Bio
Page)
LEONARD SUSSKIND, the discoverer of string theory, is the
Felix
Bloch Professor in theoretical physics at Stanford University. His contributions
to physics include the discovery of string theory, the string theory of black
hole entropy, the principle of "black hole complementarity", the holographic
principle, the matrix description of M-theory, the introduction of holographic
entropy bounds in cosmology, the idea of an anthropic string theory "landscape".
(See Edge Bio
Page).
Edge Links:
"Loop
Quantum Gravity: A Talk With Lee Smolin"
"The
Landscape:
A Talk With Leonard Susskind"
[13,165 words]
Lee Smolin published a paper hep-th/0407213 ["Scientific alternatives to the anthropic principle"]. He emailed Leonard Susskind asking for a comment, Not having had a chance to read the paper, Susskiind asked Smolin if he would summarize the arguments. Here is Smolin's message:
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